“I am a Muslim first. My sentiments were hurt when they (BJP MLAs) were shouting “Pakistan Murdabad (down with)” slogans. I couldn’t control my emotions and raised Pakistan Zindabad (long-live) slogans,” Lone, also a former Speaker of the Assembly, told the reporters outside the House.

Earlier, ruckus broke out in the House after Speaker Kavinder Gupta blamed Rohingya Muslims for facilitating an attack on an army camp in Jammu city, in which four people, including two children, died. Gupta later expunged his remarks after he was cornered by opposition NC and the ruling PDP members.

The comment created chaos with the opposition saying the state government and the central government should be blamed for security lapses, and not any particular community. NC leader Ali Mohammed Sagar said they had been asking the government to initiate dialogue to resolve the issue politically. The ruling BJP legislators, on the other hand, raised anti-Pakistan slogans and alleged Pakistan was directly involved in the attack.

Amid chaos, the house was adjourned.

Meanwhile, NC termed the remarks of its MLA Lone in the assembly as “completely unacceptable”. Reacting to MLA’s remarks, NC spokesperson Junaid Azeem Mattu tweeted, “Just spoke to @JKNC_ President Dr. Farooq Abdullah Sahib. Dr. Sahib and the entire party is of the unequivocal stand that NC MLA from Sonawari Mr. Akbar Lone has spoken out of turn and his slogans in the Legislative Assembly are completely unacceptable to the party.”

“Hon’ble @JKNC_ President has said the NC MLA should not forget that he belongs to a party that rejected the two-nation theory and he should also remember the oath he swears in the name of God at the beginning of his terms. The party disowns and condemns his remarks,” he wrote in another tweet.